tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143Sat, 03 Dec 2016 18:19:58 +0000Questions of TruthMusicJohn PolkinghorneRichard DawkinsGordon BrownMartin NowakPoliticsEvolutionTheatreDenis NobleOperascienceDavid CameronBob MayJanie DeeNeuroscienceRuth PalmerCosmologyChinaEconomicsBiblePhilosophyBeethovenHarvardPhilosophy of BiologySailingJustin WelbyFreewillNaturePromsMartin ReesPhilosophy of ScienceRoyal Societyopinion pollsHava SiegelmannCornwallTrinityJesusNicole CabellPsalmsRowan WilliamsTom WrightShakespeareDaughterIraqSt PaulRoyal InstitutionBachGod and ScienceTheologyAtheismBeijingIslamMozartPoetrycambridgeKids for KidsMary MidgleyNobel PrizeSt Paul's HammersmithAC GraylingAmartya SenGrandchildrenMiranda HartQuantum MechanicsSt LukeBrahmsElder DaughterNHSSermonToby SpenceJohn LucasKathron SturrockPrayerWikipediaLabourNed PhelpsOlympicsOnora O'NeillPhysicsSonYundiCathy Wyn-RogersCharles HandyDawkinsEO WilsonEasterHay on WyeIain McGilchristMaxHELPNorthern RockPeter HallPianoRichard ChartresRunningSasha SiemSchubertSimon Conway-MorrisString theoryWCITAnthropic PrincipleBBCBoris JohnsonColin HowsonDamian GreenDarwinEmma DarwinFaraday InstituteGenesLee SmolinMahlerPope FrancisShostakovichSimon O'NeillWorld War IIChurchConservativesCultural EvolutionElgarElizabeth IExistence of GodGodGod is BackJohn Templeton FoundationPollsRoyal Opera HouseSystems BiologyAbortionBarak ObamaBob PollackChristmasChurch of EnglandEpigeneticsFrancis CollinsFrieda HughesGospel of MarkHistoryJudi DenchMarathonMathematicsMotherParisRay LewisTheresa MayVeritas ForumWagnerWilliam HagueAAASAlan AyckbournAlan HainesAlvin PlantingaArtBankingBrian JosephsonCS LewisCamilla CavendishCity of LondonDon PageFamilyForgivenessGuardianHong KongHouse of LordsIn Business and BattleKenneth MillerLambeth PartnershipPope BenedictRosemary JoshuaSally BurgessSarah PalinSocial JusticeWigmore HallWorld War IAl RothAlastair DarlingAlister McGrathBooksBrainChopinCosmological Natural SelectionDesmond TutuDominic GreiveDorothy L SayersENOEuthanasiaEvangelismEvelyn Fox KellerEvolution in four DimensionsEvolutionary PsychologyFTHaydnHealth and ReligionHebrewsHilary ClintonHoly SpiritIan HutchinsonImperial CollegeInclusive FitnessIndiaJeremy ButterfieldJerry CoyneJim McCarthyJohn MajorJoyce DiDonatoJudaismLife GroupLiteratureMessiahNYASPNASPaul CollierPriscillaRSAReligionResurrectionRoyal Institute of PhilosophySayeeda WarsiScientismSir Ian BlairSt JohnStatisticsTamsin GreigTerrorismToday ProgrammeTom StoppardUS PoliticsUnemploymentWeddingmaterialismAlton AbbeyAmazonAndrew HuxleyAnglicanArticleBarcelonaBenjamin BrittenCERNCatherine Wyn-RogersChristianityChristians in ScienceComputingCordelia WilliamsDaily MailDaniel DennettDarfurDavid DavisDenis AlexanderEM DelafieldElectionEucharistFinancial StabilityFrank FieldFreedomGeoffrey RowellGeorge OsborneGlial CellsGlyndebourneGreekHELPsHTBHandelHarriet HarmanImmune systemJoe StiglitzJohn BarrowJulian BagginiKeith WardKoreaLSELifeboat FoundationMITMarriageMartin BealeMortalityMultiverseMusicalsNational TheatreNicky GumbelPaul NursePrisonsProspect ArticleRachel BaldockRemembranceRoger PenroseRoman CatholicRoyal FamilySam HarrisSchmannSchumannSelfish GeneShami ChakrabartiSondheimSpaceSt Andrew'sSt Andrews ChurchStephen GreenStephen HawkingStrategyTS EliotThe Courage to BelieveThe QueenTony HewishVincent CableWilliam BlakeWinston ChurchillprospectAfricaAli MirajAlpha CourseAlyson CambridgeAnatole KaletsyAnthony KennyArchbishop of CanterburyAtonementAutismBartokBeale et alBela BollobasBlairBookBrittenBrucknerCabaretCharles MooreChief RabbiChildrenChurchillClimate ChangeComplexity PrincipleConcertCorina TarnitaDarwin's AngelData ProtectionDavid SuchetDeathDefenceDemocracyDumbing down scienceDvorakEU TreatyEinsteinEmploymentEnlightenmentEnronEpidemiologyEthicsEvolutionary DynamicsExportsFaithFaith SchoolsFilmsFine-TuningFreeman DysonGK ChestertonGenesisGeorge EllisGod's PhilosophersGospelsGrandsonGrodon BrownGuido FawkesHamletHarrison BirtwhistleHarvard Business ReviewHealingHiggs BosonHistory of ScienceHumilityIBABISILIan BostridgeInclusive CapitalismInnovationIsaiahJacqui SmithJames BondJane AustenJeffrey GoldstoneJo CoxJohnJohn GrayJohn SentamuJohn TavenerJohn the BaptistJonathan SacksJunior DoctorsKeith PetersKenneth BranaghLake DistrictLentLord DraysonLord MayorLord of the RingsMJoyMark AshtonMatt RidleyMatthew ParrisMaureen LipmannMcKinseyMedicineMessaienMessiaenMichael SandelMoviesNPfITNick CleggNoel CowardNuclear WeaponsObjective MoralityOil CompaniesOxfordPeter HiggsPhilosophy of GovernancePicassoProblem of EvilPublic Sector ITPurcellRebecca HallReferendumRegulators DilemmaRelativityRennaissanceRichard NixonRichard SwinburneRightsRobotsRoyal Academy of EngineeringSan FranciscoSandy PentlandScotlandShaun BaileySimon Baron-CohenSimon Russel BealeSocial PhysicsSociety of AuthorsSouth SudanSt BenedictSt MerrynSt Paul's CathedralStanfordStewart SutherlandStraussSusan GreenfieldTVTeachersTerry EagletonThurberTimeTolerant ChristianTom NagelTony BlairTracy ChevalierTranslationTrustVS RamachandranVerdiWeddingsWestminster AbbeyYu Long"Skeletonics"42 DaysAP HerbertAbrahamActingActsAdventAgatha ChristieAgeingAgincourtAirlinesAlan MilburnAlan Turing InstituteAlbert HallAlex JenningsAlfred BrendelAlison BalsomAltruismAmsterdamAndrei LindeAndrew ShengAngela MerkelAnne-Sophie MutterAnniversaryAntony FlewAramaicAristotleArmed ForcesAstrologyBRIT AwardsBacteriaBaptismBathBerlinBerliozBernard HaitinkBernard d'AscoliBill ClintonBill DeedesBill GatesBill NewsomeBill PhillipsBirdsBishopsBnBBoat RaceBob DiamondBob ShillerBook of Common PrayerBostonBrexitBrian ToveyBroken SocietyBryan AppleyardBryn TerfelBuildingsCamusCannabisCapitalismCarmenCarola DarwinChekhovChen QigangCherry OrchardChina PhilharmonicChinese PoetryChristian AidChristine LagardeChurch GrowthCivil LibertiesClara SchumannColumbiaCommunion of SaintsComplexityCompliciteConstructive EngagementCosi fan 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RightsIMAIan McKellenIdeasInclusive growthIndependentInflationIntelligenceInterfaithIsraelJK RowlingJack StrawJames MacMillanJames SherlockJames WatsonJanacekJane WattsJean Bethke ElshtianJeff RandallJeremy BegbieJohn 3:16John CampbellJohn CornwellJohn DonneJohn LennoxJohn McCainJohn PattisonJudgementJulian AssangeJulius DrakeJunk DNAKate GouldKatharine BirbalsinghKayakingKierkegaardKiplingKiss the StreetLSOLang LangLarry SummersLaura Michelle KellyLawLehman BrosLeroy HoodLewis CarrollLife after deathLisbonLongshipsLord DenningLoves Labour LostLynn MargulisMa KaiMalcolm SparrowMaltaManagementMarcus BorgMargaret ThatcherMartin EvansMartin Luther KingMartin WolfMary Ann SeighartMassimo Pigliucci.Matthew RoseMax BeerbohmMemorial ServiceMervyn KingMichael FraynMichael Nazir-AliMicrobesMicroloan FoundationMiddle EastMike BowronMilitaryMindsMohammedMonkeysMontgomeryMoonMount DoomNIVNTWNaomie HarrisNational Secular SocietyNestleNeuronNevill ShuteNew CreationNew YearNew YorkNicky MorganNicola BlackwoodNielsenNietszcheNoahNormaNorman KretzmannNot even WrongNurse of the YearOklahomaOrdinandsOrganPEDPakistanPam SilverParliamentPatentsPatricia HodgePatricia RoutledgePaul GrovesPaul MynersPeacePenal SubstitutionPenelope WiltonPenny MordauntPentecostPeter GrimesPhilanthropyPhilharmonia OrchestraPhiliipe AghionPhilosophy of ArtPhysics of ChristianityPlaysPolticsPositive PsychologyPost-SecularPrince CharlesPrince PhillipPrivacyPrudenceQuinn KelseyRSCRalph FeinnesRamanujanRavelRay KurzweilRebecca LeighRejectionRemunerationResearch and DevelopmentResponsible InvestmentRetreatsRichard StraussRichterRob EngleRobert MacKayRodney HolderRoger ScrutonRolls-RoyceRory BremnerRosalind PicardRoss AndersonRotterdamRoyal NavySam ChaplinSamuel BeckettSarah ButterfieldScientistsSeaSeminariansSexual selectionShanghaiShareholdersShariaShaun BaileySimon JenkinsSimon RattleSingaporeSingingSisterSladeSlaverySocial misperceptionsSolomonSomerset MaughamSongSophie BevanSouth CathedralSt AugustineSt Benedict's DaySt Benedict.St FrancisSt NicholasSt PeterStandard ModelStarfishStateStephen LawStephen SondheimStern ReviewSteve FurberSteve GouldStewardshipStoriesSubmarinesSudanSupersymetrySurfingSusie SladeSydney BrennerSyriaSystem StabilityTallisTalmudTeam InnovationTechnologyTelevisionThank God for EvolutionThe MinotaurThe SunTheodicyTheodore DalrympleTheosTim CraneTina BeattieToETony BennTrafalgarTransfigurationTravelTrumpTsinghuaTuringUK ScienceUK UniversitiesUSAVaticanVaughan WilliamsViolinVirgin MaryVittorio ColaoWarren BuffettWaterskiingWedding AnniversaryWhalesWhalingWilliam BarclayWilliam BraggWinstonWrathWritersWritingXi ChenXiang BingZhang HaochenZimbabwepeer groupsthe NHSuniversituesstarcourseA blog around science, religion, life and the universe (but not everything!)http://starcourse.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (starcourse)Blogger1324125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-6637887479757563856Thu, 01 Dec 2016 10:17:00 +00002016-12-01T10:17:09.130+00:00ComputingCynthia DworkHarvardHava SiegelmannTrinityTwo dinners with brilliant friends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7JYa8IgEFuw/WD_0aboep1I/AAAAAAAAB-Q/dzCJbTOPk7QJPMgaDYTqVsG7LKRVzT34ACLcB/s1600/IMG_0948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7JYa8IgEFuw/WD_0aboep1I/AAAAAAAAB-Q/dzCJbTOPk7QJPMgaDYTqVsG7LKRVzT34ACLcB/s320/IMG_0948.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Lots going on and not really time to blog it. Dinner with friends in the Reform Club where I saw this rather delicious cartoon, reminding us that political strife isn't exactly new.<br /><br />On Sunday we had dinner with our brilliant friend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hava_Siegelmann">Hava Siegelmann</a> who was on a short visit to London. And on Monday, dinner on High Table at Trinity with the great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Dwork">Cynthia Dwork</a> and my old friend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Blake_(scientist)">Andrew Blake</a>. Opposite her was the Fields Medalist&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Baker_(mathematician)">Alan Baker</a> who had taught me as an undergraduate. He was delighted to find that Cynthia's father was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Dwork">Bernard Dwork</a>, described in his<a href="https://web.math.princeton.edu/~nmk/bernie.pdf"> Princeton obituary</a> as "perhaps the world’s greatest p-adic analyst." They say "His proof of the rationality of the zeta function of varieties over finite fields, for which he was awarded the AMS Cole Prize in Number Theory, is one of the most unexpected combinations of ideas we know of."<br /><br />Then when we retired to the Combination Room for Port and further conversation we found ourselves next to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Baulcombe">David Baulcombe</a> the great plant biologist. And on my recommendation he's going to read Denis Noble's new book <i>Dance to the Tune of Life</i>.<br /><br />What a small and interesting world!<br /><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/12/two-dinners-with-brilliant-friends.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-3685705556621897783Thu, 24 Nov 2016 09:05:00 +00002016-11-24T09:05:54.711+00:00Denis NobleImmune systemPhilosophy of BiologySystems BiologyDenis Noble's Dance to the Tune of Life launch<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vGHpQ7QKnUY/WDaZX-7glkI/AAAAAAAAB94/g6cTrwKelxcAHFgPI46x0ceHORTtC6BhwCLcB/s1600/IMG_0930.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vGHpQ7QKnUY/WDaZX-7glkI/AAAAAAAAB94/g6cTrwKelxcAHFgPI46x0ceHORTtC6BhwCLcB/s320/IMG_0930.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Denis with President and past-President of Physiological Soc.&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>I promised a blog post on Denis Noble's outstanding new book <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/life-sciences/genomics-bioinformatics-and-systems-biology/dance-tune-life-biological-relativity"><i>Dance to the Tune of Life</i>&nbsp;</a>whose launch I attended on Monday.<br /><br />This is a really important book which brings together much of the work that Denis has done to rethink the conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology. The launch was in the form of a lecture at the Physiological Society, which summarised the essence of the book and also reported to some extent on the major scientific meeting at the Royal Society earlier that month. &nbsp;This was a joint meeting between the Royal Society and the British Academy which brought together about 300 people. Sadly very few of the hand-line "neo-Darwinists" attended so there wasn't much fundamental debate about the views expressed, which is partly because the scientific evidence is now completely overwhelming.<br /><br />Denis argues that we need to move from a 20th Century Reductionist Approach to a 21st Century Integrative Approach, which recognises that biology works on many levels and that organisms <i>harness </i>stochasiticty to generate functionality.<br /><br />He points out that the dogmatic adherence to the tenets of Neo-Darwinism has done significant harm to the advance of science. Barbara <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_McClintock">McClintock</a> did her initial pioneering work on how whole units of genetic material move around, rather than "random mutations" in the 1930s and 1940s but she was told in 1957 that her work was not believed and she stopped publishing for some years. When she was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1983 she was able to state clearly that "the genome is an organ of the cell." &nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._H._Waddington">Conrad Waddington</a> was also sidelined for similar reasons.<br /><br />One of the key areas where it is perfectly clear that &nbsp;organisms&nbsp;<i>harness&nbsp;</i>stochasiticty to generate functionality is in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_hypermutation">somatic hypermutation</a>. There is no doubt at all that much higher rates of mutation are allowed on specific parts of the genome in B-Cells. It's also clear that antibiotic resistance in bacteria is not acquired or transmitted simply by "random mutations" but by mechanisms such as horizontal gene transfer. So in fact the dogmatism of the Neo-Darwinists has actually damaged the development of science and medicine. &nbsp;It seems that they are still at it: there was apparently a concerted campaign to prevent the RS from holding the scientific meeting earlier this month.<br /><br />Denis kindly signed a copy of the book for me and another for my son. And I'm honoured and delighted to find my name in the acknowledgements, between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Bateson">Sir Patrick Bateso</a>n and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Shem">Steven Bergman</a>.http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/11/denis-nobles-dance-to-tune-of-life.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-8538520953622385896Wed, 23 Nov 2016 10:00:00 +00002016-11-23T13:33:27.886+00:00HandelJoyce DiDonatoMusicOperaPurcellJoyce In War and Peace - amazing!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-88AUYZOgQ2M/WDVeYYtXhhI/AAAAAAAAB9o/ns60q7JrQJocrcqVhuzWYi-XF5Cv_-IFQCLcB/s1600/IMG_0941.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-88AUYZOgQ2M/WDVeYYtXhhI/AAAAAAAAB9o/ns60q7JrQJocrcqVhuzWYi-XF5Cv_-IFQCLcB/s320/IMG_0941.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joyce and colleagues taking a bow</td></tr></tbody></table>Very busy few days. On Monday to the great Denis Noble launching his book <i>Dance to the Tune of Life</i> - which needs a blog post of its own - and then to <i>The Red Barn</i> at the National (a big disappointment - far too melodramatic).<br /><br />But yesterday we went to hear the great Joyce DiDonato at the Barbican in her <i>In War and Peace </i>recital which was probably the finest singing recital I have ever been privileged to attend. This is really the album tour, since she has recorded these with the outstanding period-instrument orchestra <i><a href="http://www.il-pomodoro.ch/">Il Pomo d'Oro</a></i>.<br /><br />As you will see from the photo (apologies for low quality, we had seats quite far back and it's only an iPhone) there was a considerable element of staging, and in fact there was a fine dancer (Manuel Palazzo) who also performed during many of the numbers, without in any way detracting from the transcendent music.<br /><br />Handel was the dominant composer and we opened with "scenes of horror, scenes of woe" from <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jephtha_(Handel)">Jephtha</a></i>. Then two rarities: "Prendi quel ferro, o barbaro!" from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_Leo">Leonardo Leo</a>'s <i>Andromaca </i>and the orchestral Sinfonia from&nbsp;<i>Representatione di anime a di corpo</i>&nbsp;by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_de'_Cavalieri">Emilo de'Cavalieri</a> - composed in 1600. &nbsp;Then "When I am laid to rest" from <i>Dido and Aeneas</i> - transcendently powerful and poignant! Can anything follow that? &nbsp;Well after an aria from Handel's Agrippina and an orchestral arrangement of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Gesualdo">Gesualdo</a>'s 'Tristis est anima mea' we found out. 'Lascia ch'io pianga' from Handel's Rinaldo. I cannot imagine a finer performance. Heartbreakingly beautiful!<br /><br />After the interval the mood lightened. 'They tell us that you mighty powers' from Purcell's unfinished <i>The Indian Queen</i>&nbsp;was followed by 'Crystal streams in murmers flowing' from Handel's <i>Susanna. "</i>Da tempeste il legno infranto" from Handel's <i>Giulio Cesare</i>&nbsp;has Cleoparta rejoicing at her deliverance - Joyce at her most triumphant.<br /><br />Then to the 20th Century for an orchestration of Arvo Part's <i>Da pacem, Domine</i>.the remarkable 'Augelleti, che cantate' from his&nbsp;<i>Rinaldo&nbsp;</i>where one of the 2nd violins (Anna Fusek) took up the sopranino recorder to be birdsong. Apparently during performances in 1711 real sparrows were released into the theatre each night during the aria to enhance the effect! Then <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Jommelli">Jommelli</a>'s 'Par che di giubilo' - a wonderful celebration which the did again, in part, as an encore.<br /><br />Finally, after a moving speech from Joyce, she gave us a song of hope: <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgen!">Morgen!</a>&nbsp;</i>by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Strauss">Richard Strauss</a>. What an evening!<br /><br />I had a filthy cold so didn't go backstage but sent a bottle of champagne and our best wishes.http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/11/joyce-in-war-and-peace-amazing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-6788254335656863212Sat, 19 Nov 2016 20:02:00 +00002016-12-01T10:19:32.863+00:00PoetryPoliticsUS PoliticsRemain - or "I knew a young man"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iv7AvdzoY7s/WDCU39kLZkI/AAAAAAAAB9Y/yIYau4hqc7YfMg5rKWiocls8Su4kjvd4wCLcB/s1600/Remain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="62" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iv7AvdzoY7s/WDCU39kLZkI/AAAAAAAAB9Y/yIYau4hqc7YfMg5rKWiocls8Su4kjvd4wCLcB/s320/Remain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Although I voted for Remain and campaigned quite hard for the result, the decision is made. I'm very encouraged that we have Theresa May and PM and confident she will make the best job possible. But please forgive this whimsy...<br /><br /><br />I knew a young man who was thoroughly vex-ed<br />That people in England had voted for Brexit<br />He took a position in the USA<br />The voters for Brexit had driven him away<br />Perhaps he will stay?<br /><br />This young man I knew got a terrible hump<br />When American voters elected the Trump<br />He said “from this country I’ll get away far”<br />And he took a position in Austria<br />He left his home country because he was vex-ed<br />That people in England had voted for Brexit<br />The voters for Brexit had driven him away<br />Perhaps he will stay?<br /><br />This young man I knew said “I’ve gotta be off – for<br />The Austrian voters have voted in Hofer<br />These ignorant voters have led me a dance<br />I’ll take a position in sensible France"<br />He’d left the US in a terrible hump<br />When American voters elected the Trump<br />He left his home country because he was vex-ed<br />That people in England had voted for Brexit<br />The voters for Brexit had driven him away<br />Perhaps he will stay?<br /><br />This young man I knew said “They’ve done it again<br />The French have gone mad and elected Le Pen!<br />I came here from Austria, whence I was off – for<br />The Austrian voters had voted in Hofer<br />I’d left the US in a terrible hump<br />When American voters elected the Trump<br />I left my home country because I was vex-ed<br />That people in England had voted for Brexit<br />These clodhopping voters just leave me one course…"<br /><br />He’s back?<br /><div style="text-align: center;">Of course!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiESiO6tLM8">This </a>is an old Canadian animation with the incomparable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl_Ives">Burl Ives</a> singing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Was_an_Old_Lady_Who_Swallowed_a_Fly">the original</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">PS Fascinatingly, Burl Ives played in Irvin Berlin's <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_the_Army">This is the Army</a></i>&nbsp;whose movie version starred Ronald Reagan</div><div><br /></div>http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/11/remain-or-i-knew-young-man.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-8831585617350415634Wed, 16 Nov 2016 22:42:00 +00002016-11-16T22:42:54.005+00:00TheatreKiss Me at the Hampstead Theatre<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/---ew4xMqZAo/WCxoU7p9jPI/AAAAAAAAB9I/pYECokmBzXopL5hWuXdtTRTctdctqDXpgCLcB/s1600/IMG_0914.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/---ew4xMqZAo/WCxoU7p9jPI/AAAAAAAAB9I/pYECokmBzXopL5hWuXdtTRTctdctqDXpgCLcB/s320/IMG_0914.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Claire Lams and Ben Lloyd-Hughes take bows</td></tr></tbody></table>Last night to <a href="https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2016/kiss-me/"><i>Kiss Me</i>&nbsp;</a>at the Hampstead Theatre. This is a remarkable and moving new play by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bean">Richard Bean</a> - most famous for the smash-hit&nbsp;<i>One Man Two Governors</i>.<br /><br />It's a sparse and searing 2-hander where, in the 1920s, "Stephanie" has signed up for a service operated by a radical Doctor (based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Rosa_Wright">Dr Helena Wright</a> though given a different name here) who (in the play) operates a service whereby women who want a baby have a visit from a gentleman caller (Dennis). The scenario is based on a <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/08/a-secret-sperm-donor-service-in-post-first-world-war-london/">Spectator article </a>which claims that Dr Wright did this with "Derek" who was the son of a rubber planter in Ceylon.<br /><br />It is a beautifully crafted piece, and excellently played by <a href="http://www.clairehoathmanagement.com/claire-lams.html">Claire Lams </a>and Ben Lloyd-Hughes. In fact the play was written by Richard Bean for Claire who had played Pauline Clench in <i>One Man Two Governors</i>. Ben turns out to have been at St Paul's School - his character was at Charterhouse.<br /><br />It's well worth catching the play if you can. It should certainly transfer at some stage. And look out for Claire and Ben.<br /><br /><br /><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/11/kiss-me-at-hampstead-theatre.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-6962047038323662923Sun, 13 Nov 2016 18:13:00 +00002016-11-13T18:13:44.245+00:00cambridgeElgarGranddaughterHilary ClintonMusicPoliticsTrumpGerontius + "nobody knows anything"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j7KCrafnkgY/WCii3K6qbuI/AAAAAAAAB84/CAjuMVtzdL8dS3Ry_1_b7f5jXyQmcQ03gCLcB/s1600/IMG_0907.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j7KCrafnkgY/WCii3K6qbuI/AAAAAAAAB84/CAjuMVtzdL8dS3Ry_1_b7f5jXyQmcQ03gCLcB/s320/IMG_0907.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>To Ely Cathedral last night to hear our English Granddaughter sing in <i>The Dream of Gerontius</i>. &nbsp;I don't think I have been to Ely since I left Cambridge 40 years ago, and the cathedral is certainly extraordinary. The view of the "lantern" of the cathedral in the evening mist was amazing, but didn't photograph at all well.<br /><br />The <i>Gerontius</i>&nbsp;was part of the <a href="http://www.cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk/">Cambridge Music Festival</a>. The soloists were Allan Clayton (Gerontius), Allison Cook (Angel), and Duncan Rock (Priest and Angel of the Agony) who were very fine. The Britten Sinfonia was the orchestra, augmented by a good number of casuals, and the chorus was the combined choirs of Jesus, Clare, Gonville &amp; Caius and Selwyn colleges, Cambridge University Chamber Choir, Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir and St Catherine’s College Girls’ Choir, conducted by Mark Williams. <br /><br />It's a wonderful piece I know and love greatly, though I've only sung in it once: when I was at school - I think it was 46 years ago. It must be the greatest piece of large-scale choral music written in the UK for the last 200 years. However I didn't know until I read the fascinating programme notes (I can't see who the author is) that the premiere in 1900 was a complete debacle. This was partly because Elgar was late in producing the proofs for the choir and orchestra the Chorus Master died and his predecessor had to come out of retirement, and the conductor, Hans Richter, hadn't mastered the score. "the critics railed against not only the appalling number of glaring mistakes but also the complete lack of expression." &nbsp;Indeed it seems to have turned Elgar against God, and towards the end of his life he scandalised a staunchly catholic friend by saying he was "taking all the 'nots' from the Commandments and putting them into the Creed."<br /><br />This seems to be yet another example of the dictum of the last Robert Altmann that, when it comes to what artistic works will succeed (he was talking about film but I think it applies more widely) "nobody knows anything."<br /><br />Which brings me to Trump. &nbsp;I don't want to blog too much about this for obvious reasons. President-Elect Trump certainly seems to be taking a much more measured and moderate tone than Candidate Trump. We have to pray that he picks wise advisers and that wise counsels prevail. But one thing really sticks out. The only thing we <i>knew </i>about Clinton vs Trump was that Clinton had vastly greater political experience than Trump, and that her team was full of seasoned and experienced advisers and pollsters who really understood the technical aspects of targeting for a (US) General Election: where to focus your resources to get the most "bang" (Electoral College votes) for your "buck". Yet in the end Trump got 6.47 EC Votes per % popular vote and Clinton only got 4.85, so Trump was 33% <i>more </i>efficient than Clinton. By contrast Obama in 2012 got 6.50 vs Romney's 4.36 (so 49% more efficient). &nbsp;It seems that, when it came to Clinton's "experts", nobody knew anything either.http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/11/gerontius-nobody-knows-anything.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-3031885798181526660Sun, 06 Nov 2016 17:55:00 +00002016-11-06T21:00:15.822+00:00CosmologyFine-TuningHarvardInflationPhilosophy of ScienceRegulators DilemmaAvi Loeb on diversity of hypotheses, fine tuning and inflation + a step towards testability of maxHELP?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Cassini_apparent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Cassini_apparent.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferent_and_epicycle">Epicycles</a> - Courtesy Wikipedia</td></tr></tbody></table>An excellent Comment piece in Nature called <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/Comment_Loeb.pdf">Good data are not enough</a>&nbsp;by Prof Avi Loeb at Harvard catches my eye. &nbsp;He points out that prevailing world views can by highly limiting of scientific progress.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"The astronomy division of the US National Science Foundation, for example, devotes most of its funds to major facilities and large surveys, which are performed by big teams to collect better data within mainstream paradigms. Fields from particle physics to genomics do the same.<br />The consequences of a closed scientific culture are wasted resources and misguided ‘progress’ — witness the dead end that was Soviet evolutionary biology. To truly move forward, free thought must be encouraged outside the mainstream. Multiple interpretations of existing data and alternative motivations for collecting new data must be supported."</i></blockquote>He compares modern cosmology to the theory of Epicycles. He is particularly critical of the deployment of anthropic reasoning with the multiverse theory, deploying 2 objections:<br /><ol><li>He has a<a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1606.08448.pdf"> 2016 paper</a> suggesting that "<i>life is 1,000 times more likely to exist 10 trillion years from now around stars that weigh one-tenth the mass of the Sun. This means that terrestrial life might be premature and not the most likely form of life, even in our own Universe</i>." - see also his book chapter <a href="https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/ft.pdf">here</a>&nbsp;which has several very interesting discussions eg on the implications of slightly fatter "tails" in the assumed gaussian distributions of primadorial fluctuations on the emergence of the earliest forms of life (p2-3)</li><li>"<i>The anthropic argument...&nbsp;suppresses&nbsp;much-needed needed efforts to understand dark energy through an alternative theory that unifies quantum mechanics and gravity</i>."</li></ol><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J3CSTOxqb-E/WB9r0oWsnwI/AAAAAAAAB8o/eL5kARu4snEzpnTC8g_SUrBCM2d4GJrUwCLcB/s1600/InflationProblems2014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J3CSTOxqb-E/WB9r0oWsnwI/AAAAAAAAB8o/eL5kARu4snEzpnTC8g_SUrBCM2d4GJrUwCLcB/s320/InflationProblems2014.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big problems for Inflation - Table 1 from <a href="http://physics.princeton.edu/~aijjas/">Ijjas</a>, Steinhardt <br />and Loeb "<a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1402.6980v2.pdf">Inflationary Schism after Planck2013</a>"&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>He says "<i>The fact that we have not yet converged on such a theory is indicated by paradoxes in other areas of physics. For example, information contained in, say, an encyclopaedia is lost if it is swallowed by a black hole that ultimately evaporates into heat known as Hawking radiation. This contradicts a basic premise of quantum mechanics that information is preserved, and is known as the ‘information paradox’. In addition, currently viable models of cosmic inflation require fine tuning of </i><i>the conditions of the Universe before and during inflation</i>." (He cites a terrific paper co-authored by <a href="http://physics.princeton.edu/~aijjas/">Anna Ijjas</a> who seems truly brilliant - I wonder if she knows Corina?)</div><div><br /></div><div>He rightly advocates that <i>funding agencies should promote the analysis of data for serendipitous purposes beyond major programmes and the main-stream dogma. The need for a change in course is even more timely now. Empirical constraints on expected forms of dark matter (such as weakly interacting massive particles or supersymmetric partners to known particles) are getting tighter, and the hope of identifying testable consequences of string theory is receding. At a minimum, when funding is tight, a research frontier should maintain at least two ways of interpreting data so that new experiments will aim to select the correct one. This should apply to alternatives of inflation when dealing with new cosmological data, and to alternatives of cold dark matter when discrepancies are observed in the properties of dark-matter-dominated galaxies</i><br /><br />This is of course one aspect of the herding problem and relates somewhat to my Regulators Dilemma paper. The "optimum" for each individual grant application may be to stay within the mainstream paradigm - not least because there can be considerable academic bitchiness when it comes to refereeing application that have "heretical" ideas - but this is not necessary optimal for advancing knowledge as a whole.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ohAcc8b9yd0/WB9lIM-cdtI/AAAAAAAAB8Q/tOvwAVLVNpE5CEQ6ym5N59jmKba59iRiQCLcB/s1600/LoebEtAl2016Fig4A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ohAcc8b9yd0/WB9lIM-cdtI/AAAAAAAAB8Q/tOvwAVLVNpE5CEQ6ym5N59jmKba59iRiQCLcB/s320/LoebEtAl2016Fig4A.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fig 4A <span id="goog_157290943"></span><span id="goog_157290944"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>from <span id="goog_157290940"></span><span id="goog_157290941"></span><a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1606.08448.pdf">Loeb et al</a>. Probability distribution for the <br />emergence of &nbsp;life within a fixed comoving volume<br />&nbsp;of the Universe as a function of &nbsp;cosmic time. They<br />show the probability per log time, tdP/dt for <br />different choices of the minimum stellar mass, <br />equally spaced in log m between 0.08 M<sub>Sun</sub> and 3 M<sub>Sun</sub>. .&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table>BTW his fascinating paper cited "Relative Likelihood for Life as a Function of Cosmic Time" has this chart showing that (based on some fairly standard simplifying assumptions) the time with maximal probability per unit time for the emergence of life is roughly now (ie about 2 * 10^10 years from Big Bang) if the minimum stellar mass that can lead to life is about 0.9 M<sub>Sun</sub>, but as this minimum decreases the peak time increases by roughly a decimal order of magnitude for each halving of the mass.<br /><br />It immediately occurred to me that two reasons why the minimum stellar mass might be constrained to something close to MSun are the need to have a gas giant planet and a significant moon, since without the moon we would have had a many much larger asteroid impacts and life would not have had time to reach substantial levels of intelligence. These points are touched on at the end of their paper (p10) though quite understandably they don't model them because it's extremely complicated to do so.<br /><br />They conclude "The probability distribution dP(t)/dlnt is of particular importance for studies attempting to gauge the level of fine-tuning required for the cosmological or fundamental physics parameters that would allow life to emerge in our Universe." with which of course I agree. It seems to me that this is a step towards being able to address at least some of the partial derivatives in the <a href="http://starcourse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/earth-size-planets-and-maxhelp.html">MaxHELP</a> hypothesis, although clearly a lot more work needs to be done.</div>http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/11/avi-loeb-on-diversity-of-hypotheses.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-5045602596874162612Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:09:00 +00002016-11-01T20:09:50.279+00:00BibleHebrewsPriscillaSt PaulOn the probable authorship of Hebrews - by Priscilla<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EMPPy3MbNg/Uv-JgLaO-1I/AAAAAAAAAps/0uYPI3B7eqQXwEV7CKs7egyYiLcL3auNQCPcB/s1600/aquila-and-priscilla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--EMPPy3MbNg/Uv-JgLaO-1I/AAAAAAAAAps/0uYPI3B7eqQXwEV7CKs7egyYiLcL3auNQCPcB/s320/aquila-and-priscilla.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Icon of Aquilla and Priscilla</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm pleased to see that the second most visited post of all time in this blog is currently "<a href="http://starcourse.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/hebrews-was-almost-certainly-written-by.html">Hebrews was almost certainly written by a woman, probably Priscilla</a>" (Feb 2014) though I would be even happier if it were No 1. I added an <a href="http://starcourse.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/priscilla-chicks-and-anonymity.html">update in 2015</a> but perhaps it's helpful to bring everything together here, and to respond to some points that I've read.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>I don’t of course claim that the attribution to Priscilla is certain - Origen is clearly right to say “But as to who wrote the epistle, only God knows the truth”. The full quote is quite interesting: "But as for myself, if I were to state my own opinion, I should say that the thoughts are the apostle's but that the style and composition belong to one who called to mind the apostle's teachings and, as it were, made short notes of what his master said. If any church, therefore, holds this epistle as Paul's, let it be commended for this also. For not without reason have the men of old time handed it down as Paul's. But who wrote the epistle, in truth, God knows." &nbsp;Eusebius, <i>Ecc Hist</i>, Bk 6, Ch 25.13-14 quoting Origen<br /><br />But what I think we can say is that Hebrews was written by:<br /><ol style="background-color: white; color: #333333; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2em; text-align: justify;"><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A very wise and learned early Christian teacher</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who was very close to Paul but not Paul himself</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who had strong connections with the Jewish community in Rome</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who was confident to reason from the scriptures but never appeals to personal authority</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who for some reason the Church found it wise not to attribute authorship to widely - despite the fact that it must have been known to the first recipients.</span></li></ol><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #333333;">It's fair to point out that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_of_Alexandria">Clement of Alexandria</a> clearly thinks it is by Paul (See <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02104.htm">Stomata Bk 4 Ch 21</a>, "Description of a Perfect Woman") and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius">Eusebius </a>quotes Clement as saying "the Epistle to the Hebrews is the work of Paul, and that it was written to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language; but that Luke translated it carefully and published it for the Greeks, and hence the same style of expression is found in this epistle and in the Acts" (Ecc Hist Bk 5 14.1-7). But it's not really in the same style as Acts. &nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severian_of_Gabala">Severian of Gabala</a> (4th C) says "Paul was hated by the Jews on the grounds that he was teaching apostasy from the law...[...]. Therefore, writing something useful to the Hebrews, he does not append his name, so that they might not lose any advantage they could have derived from the letter because of their hatred against him. And he writes to them in the tongue of the Hebrews, which was also translated by one of his disciples" &nbsp;Fragments on the Epistle to the Hebrews (prologue) but he also thought the Earth was Flat and was an enemy of St John Crysostom.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">Of the people we know about only Priscilla and Aqullia fit (1-4) Luther suggested Apollos but he was from Alexandria not Rome. Tertullian suggested Barnabas but he was from Cyprus. Others have suggested Timothy but he was from Lystra. Only Priscilla fits (5). It has been suggested that Apollos, Barnabas or Timothy might have had their names suppressed because they were not apostles, but nor were Mark and Luke. Furthermore there is a very early extra-canonical <i>Epistle of Barnabas </i>so there was certainly no reluctance to attribute works to such figures.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">We get some idea of how highly Priscilla was regarded by Luke from the fact that whenever he mentions "Priscilla and Aquilla" it in that order, as does Paul when he is sending greetings to them - interestingly when he is sending greetings from them he uses the conventional order of Aquilla and Priscilla (c/f “Andronicus and Junia” in Romans 16) and several scribes "corrected" the order on the occasions when Luke refers to them. Of course when Luke refers to Paul meeting them he says Paul first met Aquilla and then Priscilla but that is chronological.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">There is also the very interesting detail that Luke refers to Priscilla and Aquilla taking Apollos aside and expounding the ways of God more accurately he uses the word ἐξέθεντο (</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">exethento)&nbsp;</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">which comes from ἐκτίθημι (</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">extithEmi)&nbsp;</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">which means expose of explain/expound. This occurs only 4 times in the NT and always in Acts:</span></span><br /><ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2em; text-align: justify;"><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(7:21) when it refers to Moses being exposed</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(11:4) when Peter is explaining</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(18:26) when Priscilla and Aquilla are instructing Apollos</span></li><li style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(28:23) when Paul is expounding the scriptures to the Jews in Rome.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333;">It's also at least somewhat suggestive that that author uses language about newborn babes and milk. This was a trope of Paul's as well of course, but makes it marginally more likely to be a woman.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333;">Finally I observe that (s)he concludes "I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you." It would be pretty well impossible for woman to travel to Rome by herself, but in company of her brother it would be feasible.</span><br /><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333;">None of this is certain, but cumulatively highly suggestive.&nbsp;</span></div><br /><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/11/on-probable-authorship-of-hebrews-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-859936034030857158Sun, 30 Oct 2016 20:53:00 +00002016-10-31T13:50:20.595+00:00BiblePsalmsSt LukeZacchaeus, an old friend and Psalm 60<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Palestine_Jericho3_tango7174.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Palestine_Jericho3_tango7174.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.3704px; text-align: left;">Zacchaeus'&nbsp;</span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_fig" style="background: none rgb(249, 249, 249); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.3704px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" title="Sycamore fig">sycamore fig</a><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.3704px; text-align: left;">&nbsp;in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho" style="background: none rgb(249, 249, 249); color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.3704px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" title="Jericho">Jericho</a>,<br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zacchaeus">Courtesy Wikipedia</a></td></tr></tbody></table>The sermon today was on Zacchaeus which follows on from mine last week - though my friend Stephan who preached has a much more practical approach than I do.<br /><br />It is however fascinating that there is a tree in Jericho which is thought to be the very one that Zacchaeus climbed.<br /><br />I don't quite see how Zacchaeus could have been Matthias the (replacement) Apostle since St Luke says in Acts that the two candidates had been with the Apostles "all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day that he was received up from us" and Zacchaeus evidently wasn't. But Clement of Alexandria would have known Acts so presumably this objection didn't carry weight with him.<br /><br />This prompts me to look at the original source and in fact the only mention of Zacchaeus is in Book 4 Ch 6 of <i>Sromata</i> which says (in the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02104.htm">New Advent Translation</a>) "It is said, therefore, that Zaccheus, or, according to some, Matthew, the chief of the publicans, on hearing that the Lord had deigned to come to him, said, Lord, and if I have taken anything by false accusation, I restore him fourfold; on which the Saviour said, The Son of man, on coming today, has found that which was lost." so I think Wikipedia may be wrong on this point. (The <a href="http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/Clement%20of%20Alexandria_PG%2008-09/Stromata.pdf">Greek is&nbsp;</a>4.6.35.2 Ζακχαῖον τοίνυν, οἳ δὲ Ματθίαν φασίν, ἀρχιτελώνην, ἀκηκοότα τοῦ κυρίου καταξιώσαντος πρὸς αὐτὸν γενέσθαι, ἰδοὺ τὰ ἡμίση τῶν ὑπαρχόντων μου δίδωμι ἐλεημοσύνην φάναι, κύριε, καὶ εἴ τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα, τετραπλοῦν ἀποδίδωμι. ἐφ' οὗ καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ εἶπεν·)<br /><br />Went today to the 60th birthday celebration of a very old friend who taught me (a bit of) Hebrew when we were at school together. I gave him Psalm 60 as a birthday present, which I share with you:<br /><br />Psalm 60<br />O God You've cast us off and scattered us<br />For You were angry, turn to us again!<br />You caused the land to tremble and to break<br />O heal her fragments, for she's faltering!<br />You've shown Your people hardship, and you've made<br />Us drink a wine that leaves us staggering.<br />To those who fear You, You have given a flag<br />That shall be raised up in the cause of truth. $<br />So that Your loved one yet shall be released<br />O help with Your right hand and answer me!<br />Now God has spoken in His holiness:<br />"I will rejoice and will divide Shekhem<br />And measure out the valley of Succoth.<br />For Gilead is mine, Mannessah’s mine<br />Ephraim's my crown, Judah my sceptre too.<br />Moab's my wash pot and I'll cast my shoe<br />On Edom; on Philistia I will shout."<br />Who will bring me in the fortress town<br />And who is it will lead me into Edom?<br />Is it not You, O God, who's cast us off<br />And do no longer go out with our troops?<br />O give us succour from the enemy<br />For vain is any hope of human help.<br />In God we will achieve success I know<br />And He will trample on our every foe. http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/10/zacchaeus-old-friend-and-psalm-60.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-7521453603384042477Thu, 27 Oct 2016 19:47:00 +00002016-10-27T19:47:02.888+00:00ArtBrian ToveyMemorial ServiceRennaissanceBrian Tovey Memorial Service<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCPHS4JkSq8/WBJXz8aaSOI/AAAAAAAAB8A/v2VSs1f08x0Up-VqugxH4JGi8Pd4euSpwCLcB/s1600/brian-tovey_3561634b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCPHS4JkSq8/WBJXz8aaSOI/AAAAAAAAB8A/v2VSs1f08x0Up-VqugxH4JGi8Pd4euSpwCLcB/s320/brian-tovey_3561634b.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>To Brian Tovey's Memorial Service at St James' Spanish Place - a church I hadn't been to before.<br /><br />Brian was Director of GCHQ and had a distinguished career there, but I knew him afterwards when he had retired since he was a neighbour of some close friends. &nbsp;A charming and intelligent man, he also very kindly took my Daughter and her close friend his god-daughter to Florence and gave her some amazing insights into Renaissance Art<br /><br />Hearing tributes from colleagues and friends from various walks of life was delightful - each of them giving insights into a facet of his life.<br /><br />His final project was to write a book on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Baldinucci">Filippo Baldinucci </a>(1624-97) a late-renaissance art historian and artist, which he completed before he died at the end of last year.<br /><br />May he rest in peace and rise in GLORY!http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/10/brian-tovey-memorial-service.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-3508620932877514604Sun, 23 Oct 2016 15:07:00 +00002016-10-23T15:07:02.436+00:00GreekJesusSermonSt LukeSt Paul's HammersmithThe Pillar of the Community and the Profiteer - Sermon 23 Oct 2016<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlE-E43CVbs/WAzGwlskjxI/AAAAAAAAB7s/_PJfV0EJ8aAEP8lILz0ZPPYD8kWXJ_s9ACLcB/s1600/R-20091223-0042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlE-E43CVbs/WAzGwlskjxI/AAAAAAAAB7s/_PJfV0EJ8aAEP8lILz0ZPPYD8kWXJ_s9ACLcB/s320/R-20091223-0042.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parable of Pharisee and Publican<br />Studio of Rembrandt van Rijn. <a href="https://images.nga.gov/?service=asset&amp;action=show_zoom_window_popup&amp;language=en&amp;asset=95658&amp;location=grid&amp;asset_list=95658&amp;basket_item_id=undefined">Courtesy NGA</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><b>Luke 18.9-14</b><br />To some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others<sup>a</sup>, Jesus told this parable: “<span style="color: red;">Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a deeply religious pillar of the community and the other a profiteering collaborator with the Roman occupiers. The Pillar of the Community stood and prayed in this way to himself <sup>a</sup>: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people — rapacious, unrighteous, adulterers—or even like this profiteer. I fast <u>twice </u>a week and give tithes of <u>all</u> things that I get.’</span><br /><span style="color: red;">&nbsp;“But the profiteer stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’</span><br /><span style="color: red;">“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.</span>”<br /><br /><br />Lord, I pray that you will guard these words of mine, bless what is right, and correct any errors in my words in the minds of these kind hearers. Amen.<br /><br />The story goes that John Major, when he was Prime Minister, met Boris Yeltsin at the time President of Russia, and asked Yeltin: “how are things in Russia”. Yeltisn replied “in a word: Good”. &nbsp;Ah excellent, said Major, and what about in more words? &nbsp;“In two words” replied Yeltsin, “not good”.<br /><br />Jesus’s parables overturn expectations. Our problem, hearing them, is that we often know the parable but not the expectations. &nbsp; What’s the one word you associate with Samaritan? &nbsp; (Good) Precisely. But the whole point of the parable of the Good Samaritan is that the Samaritans were the despised heretics, with whom, as St John tells us, the Jews had no dealings (if they could help it).<br /><br />So who is this “deeply religious pillar of the community”? Well the Greek is <i>Pharisaios</i> which comes from the Aramaic<sup>b</sup> <i>Pərīšā </i>which means “set apart or separated” and of course the English word is Pharisee. &nbsp;But the very word now means a religious hypocrite, and if we read it that way we miss the point of the parable completely.<br /><br />The Pharisees were in many ways among the best of the religious Jews at the time. &nbsp; The Sadducees had basically sold out and collaborated with the occupying powers in exchange for control of the Temple and earthly power. They also denied the doctrine that God would raise people from the dead at the end of time - which is why “they were sad, you see”. The Zealots were actively resisting occupation, from time to time fighting against the Romans and supporting little bands of brigands in the wilderness.<br /><br />But the Pharisees devoted themselves to careful study of the scriptures, and scrupulous observation of the Law. They believed in an Oral Torah which (it seems from the Talmud<sup>c</sup>) was <i>both </i>revealed to Moses at Sinai, <i>and </i>the product of debates among rabbis, in an ongoing process of analysis and argument in which God is actively involved. They produced great religious teachers – Gamaliel taught Paul. Gamaliel’s grandfather, Hillel the Elder, was probably one of the sages Jesus listened to as a child in the Temple. &nbsp;Hillel was approached by a heathen who asked him “teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot” and Hillel replied 'What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbour: &nbsp;that is the whole Torah, while the rest is the commentary on it; go and learn it.”. Hillel was “not far from the kingdom of God.” &nbsp;When we hear this parable we must not imagine it only applies to other people– we must not think “I thank you that I am not as other men are – like that Pharisee.”<br /><br />And what about the profiteering collaborator with the Roman occupiers? The Greek is <i>telwnEs</i> which means what the Romans called a <i>publicanus</i>. A <i>publicanus</i> was literally a public contractor but their main role was collecting taxes for the Romans. It worked like this. The right to collect taxes for a particular region would be auctioned every few years for a value that (in theory) approximated the tax available for collection in that region. Any tax collected that was in excess of their bid would be pure profit for the <i>publicanus</i><sup>d</sup>. He would then generally sell the right to collect the taxes in a particular sub-region to the highest bidder, who could then pocket the difference between what he collected and what he had to pay. &nbsp;These people got very rich. In Luke 19 we meet a chief-tax collector called Zacchaeus who can afford to give away half his wealth to the poor and restore anything that he defrauded fourfold <sup>e</sup>.<br /><br />The annual tax revenue of Judea was about 300 talents<sup>f</sup>&nbsp;and a talent is 10,000 days wages - about £1M in today’s money. &nbsp;So these were really rich profiteers collaborating with the heathen occupying power. &nbsp;Nobody respectable would associate with them and their sins cried out to heaven. &nbsp;Quite right, everyone hearing Jesus would think, that this disgraceful profiteer would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. &nbsp;The Pharisees particularly disliked the tax-collectors, and a tax-collector who wanted to join a Pharisee guild had to give up his profession and pay just compensation to all those he had cheated.<sup>g</sup><br /><br />As for the pillar of the community – he goes beyond the letter of the Law. The Law requires you to fast once in the week – he fasts twice. The Law requires you to give tithes of the crops and animals that you owned, but there was no requirement to tithe the whole of your income – but this is what the pillar of the community does. &nbsp;His prayer sounds strange to us, but it was the practice (recorded in the Talmud <sup>h</sup>) for a pious Jewish man to bless God every day for not having created him a Gentile, a slave or a woman. Indeed it’s something we are often called to reflect on that if we had been born in different circumstances we would have found it much harder to come to faith. &nbsp;What he is saying is not that dis-similar from the most famous remark of the English reformer and martyr John Bradford, “there but for the grace of God go I” – brilliantly subverted by Churchill of observed of the austere intellectual Sir Stafford Cripps “there but for the grace of God, goes God”.<br /><br />But it’s the profiteer who goes home justified before God, and the other does not <sup>i</sup>. This is not because the accusations were false. The profiteer was surely rapacious and unrighteous, and even if he hadn’t committed adultery in a physical sense, the very coins in which the profiteer dealt had a graven image of Caesar making an explicit claim to divinity – and the Old Testament considered any mixing with foreign so-called “gods” as adultery. What Jesus says is meant to be shocking to his hearers when he says it and is meant to be shocking to us now. &nbsp;What is wrong with the pillar of the community, what is right about the profiteer, and what does it mean for us, today?<br /><br />We have a clue in Luke’s introduction: this is told to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others (the Greek is literally “relying on themselves that they are righteous/justified”). The problem is not that the pillar of the community does the tithing and fasting, but that he “trusts in himself that he is righteous” and not in God. &nbsp;And Jesus describes his prayer as being said, “to himself” – that’s what the Greek says <sup>j</sup> . Of course the pillar of the community would indignantly deny it – it’s clear from his words that he is addressing God. But God sees the heart, and Jesus is suggesting that this man is not really addressing God at all. Because if he were connecting with God at all he would know two things. One: that he was unworthy and Two: that he must be compassionate. Here, beside him (though afar off) is a profiteer who is evidently humbled before God and penitent. But what does the pillar of the community do? He despises him.<br /><br />What’s right about the profiteer? Does Jesus approve of his collaboration, his rapaciousness? Surely not. But what he does approve of is that he recognises his own unworthiness. Despite his great riches he humbles himself. &nbsp;He beats his breast and prays “God, have mercy<sup>k</sup> on me a sinner”. He is “not far from the kingdom of God”. And when someone who could have been his boss, Zacchaeus, really repents and turns to Jesus, Jesus says “<span style="color: red;">Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and save the lost</span>” (Luke 19.9)<br /><br />So what does this mean for us, today? &nbsp;May I explore three suggestions?<br /><ol><li>We must not trust in ourselves, but in God. This applies at the personal level, and also at the political. Much of the awful mess that some (but by no means all) US Evangelical leaders have got themselves into supporting Trump seems to be because they have made political calculations rather than trusting in God <sup>l</sup>. As Psalm 65, which we read, says <br />“God silences the roaring of the sea.<br />Their roaring waves, and tumult of the nations”<br /><br />But of course we must be careful not to “thank God that we are not as other men are” in this.</li><li>We must not despise others. Jesus is very stern about those who call a brother “fool” (Mat 5.22). &nbsp;There are of course many situations where we have to exercise judgement about our own courses of action. But God is the one true judge and we are not to place ourselves in God’s judgement seat. &nbsp;We are called to love our neighbour, not to judge him or her.</li><li>We should walk humbly with our God. There is a wonderful prayer called the Jesus Prayer which is based on this passage. It goes: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have pity on me, a sinner.” It can be helpful to repeat it 12 times, pausing to mediate on each of the 12 words. But whether we pray in these exact words or not, we should pray in this spirit. &nbsp;Jesus is clear: all who exalt themselves will be abased, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.</li></ol>May we trust in God, walk in love and humility, and share the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. Amen.<br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Notes</b></div><div><ol type="a"><li>&nbsp;NIV’s “were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else” is wrong. The Greek is specific <i>pepoithotas</i> <i>eph heutois hoti eisin dikaioi</i>. The NIV also leaves out "with himself " (<i>pros heauton</i>) and gives “robbers, evildoers” for <i>harpages, adikoi</i> &nbsp;<i>harpax </i>means literally ravenous though <i>harpazw </i>means to steal or take away forcefully. RSV and KJV has "extortioners" which isn’t bad.</li><li>Interestingly not directly from the Hebrew, where the related word is <i>pārûš</i>. The earliest historical sources about them are the gospels and Acts, but they are extensively discussed by Josephus.</li><li>The sages of the Talmud are not quite the same as the Pharisees, but we don’t have any first hand accounts of the Pharisees’ teachings.</li><li>Or indeed the leasing company he represented. Special leasing companies (<i>societas publicanorum</i>) were formed to bid for the contracts in large provinces.</li><li>According to Clement of Alexandria, Zaccheaus was surnamed Matthias and became the replacement apostle for Judas, and the <i>Apostolic Constitutions</i> (c380AD) say that Zaccheaus the tax collector was the first Bishop of Caeseria.</li><li><i>First Century Galilee: A Fresh Examination of the Sources</i> by Bradley W. Root says Archelaus collected 600 talents from Judea, Samaria, Idumea and a number of semi-independent cities under his control, and this grew quite a lot during the 1<sup>st</sup> Century. - &nbsp; a talent was 10,000 Tyrian (or 6,000 Attic) drachmae and a drachma was a day’s wage.</li><li>EDNT Vol 3 p 349 citing Herrenbruck.</li><li>Menachoth 43b-44a.</li><li>And when Jesus says “will be humbled” and “will be exalted” he means humbled and exalted by God.</li><li>The RSV has ”prayed thus with himself“ following the KJV (though the Greek is to and not with), the NJB “said this prayer to himself”, Tom Wright has “prayed in this way to himself” which is of course spot-on. I often marvel at the NIV’s mistranslations – I wonder if US evangelicals have a problem with this passage?</li><li>The word used <i>hilasthEti</i> comes from <i>hilaskomai </i>which means “be reconciled” but I think it’s a distraction.</li><li>Some of them are rowing back – see the <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/october-web-only/speak-truth-to-trump.html">coruscating editorial in Christianity Today</a>. But immense damage has been done.</li></ol></div>http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-pillar-of-community-and-profiteer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-3823385309769494929Mon, 17 Oct 2016 20:44:00 +00002016-10-24T09:16:16.527+00:00Catherine Wyn-RogersConcertMahlerMusicPhilharmonia OrchestraCatherine Wyn-Rogers in a wonderful Das Lied von der Erde<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1pqiCf4iNsk/WAUxaWsgU9I/AAAAAAAAB7c/zGj2OzgrkkARLRshBMYSyXTgK7ACgqEpgCLcB/s1600/IMG_0846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1pqiCf4iNsk/WAUxaWsgU9I/AAAAAAAAB7c/zGj2OzgrkkARLRshBMYSyXTgK7ACgqEpgCLcB/s320/IMG_0846.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Dean Smith, Josep Pons, Catherine</td></tr></tbody></table>To the Festival Hall last night since my beloved sister had told me that wonderful Catherine Wyn-Rogers had stepped in at the last minute to sing&nbsp;<i>Das Lied von der Erde</i>&nbsp;in place of Matthias Goerne who was indisposed.<br /><br />This is another masterpiece that I had never heard, and Catherine is one of the world's great Mezzos especially in a concert setting where the words matter. She was indeed amazing!<br /><br />The first half consisted of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. The orchestra was the Philharmonia under the baton of Josep Pons - who I hadn't heard before and who imparts a very Spanish flair to his conducting. He brought out a great many tones and features I had not previously noticed, but then I was only 4 rows from the front and I'm not conscious of having heard this piece so up close and personal before.<br /><br />Then the amazing Mahler. The first song (<i>Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde</i>) was from the tenor, a fine Wagnerian tenor called Robert Dean Smith born in Kansas who has sung title roles in Bayreuth. The famous refrain <i>Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod</i> very much sets the tone. &nbsp;Then Catherine came on with her wonderful blend of vocal beauty and really entering into the words. <i>Der Einsame im Herbst </i>captured perfectly the loneliness of Autumn. &nbsp;The tenor gave us<i>&nbsp;Von der Jugend</i> which is a song about a porcelain scene - relating I think to the willow pattern. And then Catherine the somewhat ethereal ballad <i>Von der Schönheit </i>of young girls picking flowers who are disturbed by passing horsemen.<br /><br />The tenor returns for another drinking song <i>Der Trunkene im Frühling</i> ("The Drunkard in Spring") which is based on Li Bai's famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Bai#Rapt_with_wine_and_moon">poem </a>Waking from drunkenness on a Spring Day. (I'm fairly sure I've translated some Li Bai but I'll have to go back and look to see what). &nbsp;Then Catherine had the haunting final song "<i>Der Abschied</i>" ("The Farewell") where the singer is both narrator, waiting for her friend who finally comes to part forever and "wander homeward, to my abode!" concluding in the plaintive "Ewig .. Ewig." As Julian Johnson says in the programme notes this song "is obviously a meditation on death, but it is less an enactment of dying than a rethinking of how to live". At the end "Still moving, and utterly still, the music does indeed resound forever".<br /><br />Mahler died shortly before the first performance. Webern wrote to his friend Berg, urging him to attend, that &nbsp;it was going to be "Something so heavenly, the like of which has never been heard of."http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/10/catherinw-wyn-rogers-in-wonderful-das.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-8229539200301204223Sun, 09 Oct 2016 17:05:00 +00002016-10-09T17:05:00.780+00:00BostonConservativesCornwallElder DaughterMotherPoliticsTheresa MayCornwall, Conference and Boston<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JCEz3z-edyM/V_py5sCeL6I/AAAAAAAAB7E/zIgsUxkJayEMBu8sb9Y6CjUSfR3WFy25wCLcB/s1600/IMG_0779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JCEz3z-edyM/V_py5sCeL6I/AAAAAAAAB7E/zIgsUxkJayEMBu8sb9Y6CjUSfR3WFy25wCLcB/s320/IMG_0779.JPG" width="320" /></a>Very busy few days. First to Cornwall to celebrate Mother's 85th birthday - then to Conservative Conference, then to Warwick University to give a seminar, and finally to Boston to meet some clients - with the very pleasant side-effect of seeing Elder Daughter and her family. Mother was in good form and Cornwall was amazingly beautiful - as it almost always is when not raining!</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TMAO-2xiBpg/V_pzRjJglcI/AAAAAAAAB7I/nVP9CFK7wswvdagG394NyI6l0834umCsQCLcB/s1600/IMG_0809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TMAO-2xiBpg/V_pzRjJglcI/AAAAAAAAB7I/nVP9CFK7wswvdagG394NyI6l0834umCsQCLcB/s320/IMG_0809.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TMAO-2xiBpg/V_pzRjJglcI/AAAAAAAAB7I/nVP9CFK7wswvdagG394NyI6l0834umCsQCLcB/s1600/IMG_0809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NqqvXhD-KmU/V_pwy1MMpCI/AAAAAAAAB64/NOGVKTlXoisfwyrsn6jpdmHqYhER6Gh6gCLcB/s1600/CharlesRiver7Oct2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>The Conference (only the second I've attended) was notable for me because of the very grown-up and long-term approach the May government is taking to policy-making. No-one thinks for one moment that Labour can win under Corbyn. So the only election where there is an appreciable chance of the Conservatives losing power is in 2025 (or 2023 if May is forced to call an early GE next year which is unlikely but not completely impossible) and realistically the first seriously competitive GE is in 2030. This means that, for the first time ever, we have a government in the UK that is focused on a 7-12 year timeframe and that is surely a good thing. They are adopting sensible long-term approaches to policy-making, with Green Papers and White Papers before legislation so that there can be proper consultation on ideas.&nbsp;</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NqqvXhD-KmU/V_pwy1MMpCI/AAAAAAAAB64/NOGVKTlXoisfwyrsn6jpdmHqYhER6Gh6gCLcB/s1600/CharlesRiver7Oct2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NqqvXhD-KmU/V_pwy1MMpCI/AAAAAAAAB64/NOGVKTlXoisfwyrsn6jpdmHqYhER6Gh6gCLcB/s320/CharlesRiver7Oct2016.JPG" width="320" /></a>The other big advantage the May government has is that there is a clear national consensus that Things Have Got to Change. This is enormously powerful: people like innovation but they don't really like to change the way they operate.<br /><br />Finally to Boston to meet some clients and also a Chinese colleague who is at the Kennedy School. Alas no time to catch up with my Harvard or MIT friends since I had a very early flight on Saturday. Next time...</div><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/10/cornwall-conference-and-boston.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-7196051423895092492Thu, 22 Sep 2016 20:53:00 +00002016-09-22T20:53:44.052+00:00NormaOperaRoyal Opera HouseWonderful Norma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-toZQy1y6odI/V-Le9sH6LnI/AAAAAAAAB6g/XAn1I2uDPs07NPvgzPi2ANQ5vQKKPC5hACLcB/s1600/IMG_0755.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-toZQy1y6odI/V-Le9sH6LnI/AAAAAAAAB6g/XAn1I2uDPs07NPvgzPi2ANQ5vQKKPC5hACLcB/s320/IMG_0755.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>For a delightful family celebration we took a box at Covent Garden to see Norma. Bumped into three business friends (of 3 different "ranks") so it was clearly the place/time to go. The cast is absolutely sensational!&nbsp; Sonya Yoncheva in the title role sung with exquisite passion and power, Joseph Calleja as Pollione was also extraordinary, and Sonia Ganassi who sings the young priestess Adalgisa was also excellent. And Brindley Sherratt was stalwart as Orvesio the religious leader and father of Norma.<br /><br />The production was not great - trying to make the druidic cult into some form of extreme catholic Christianity doesn't really work and you can't help feeling that the trendy Catalan producers from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Fura_dels_Baus">La Fura dels Baus</a> are simply trying to have a pop at Catholicism. The use of KKK style hats (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capirote">Capirote </a>- worn by some priests and penitents eg in <a href="http://www.valenciavalencia.com/culture-guide/semana-santa/ku-klux-klan-semana-santa-spain.htm">Valencia</a>) certainly added a frisson.<br /><br />The singing and playing were superlative. But I felt that that the libretto lacked the psychological depth of the great Mozart or Strauss operas. According to the programme note Bellini insisted on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felice_Romani">Felice Romani</a>, who created over 60 librettos for a plethora of composers - one, <i>Francesca da Rimini</i> was set by 11 different composers! He wrote 10 for Donizetti (including <i>Anna Bolena</i> and <i>L'elisir d'amore</i>) and 7 for Bellini. Even these great opera composers had their libretti re-used on occasions.<br /><br />There was BTW a very interesting programme essay by Rev Sarah Linton on censorship and the religious aspects called "Cross it out.." which begins: "In August 1830 a performance of Auber's <i>La Muette de Portici</i> sparked off the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Revolution">Belgian Revolution</a>"<br /><br />All in all, a wonderful evening and a wonderful performance. Catch it if you can!<br /><br /><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/09/wonderful-norma.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-1160347488346036097Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:03:00 +00002016-10-09T16:27:21.513+00:00BrahmsJanie DeeOperaPromsSan FranciscoUpdate: Merola, Prom, Janie Dee<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sANygJLgIio/V92S9kNhzUI/AAAAAAAAB6I/GfNs20D3Hq0j-j9ZWdKmMQYFSjxOkyp6gCLcB/s1600/IMG_0550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sANygJLgIio/V92S9kNhzUI/AAAAAAAAB6I/GfNs20D3Hq0j-j9ZWdKmMQYFSjxOkyp6gCLcB/s1600/IMG_0550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sANygJLgIio/V92S9kNhzUI/AAAAAAAAB6I/GfNs20D3Hq0j-j9ZWdKmMQYFSjxOkyp6gCLcB/s320/IMG_0550.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jZcrKfPAKVk/V92TAQqCRgI/AAAAAAAAB6Q/0ChE3WDn6V4F64WVSOv1FOodV_72PaP2gCLcB/s1600/IMG_0684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jZcrKfPAKVk/V92TAQqCRgI/AAAAAAAAB6Q/0ChE3WDn6V4F64WVSOv1FOodV_72PaP2gCLcB/s320/IMG_0684.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />So sorry for the long delay in updating. I've been in Beijing, Shanghai, San Jose, San Francisco, Palo Alto and Cambridge, Mass and things have been very busy at work and at home.<br /><br />Artistic highlights were:<br /><ul><li>The Merola Opera Programme Grand Finale at the SF Opera house - with an afterparty to meet some of the very promising young singers.</li><li>The Rattle Brahms 2 Prom - sadly the only Prom I attended.</li><li>Janie Dee's wonderful cabaret at The Pheasantry.&nbsp;</li></ul>Even now I don't really have time to write them up but I give you a picture of each.<br /><br />And I plan to update more frequently again. <br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zwrVi7FAHLk/V92S_h1KeVI/AAAAAAAAB6M/g6lBJjFTPsknTjEPAis2WrTiHFk4TNftgCLcB/s1600/IMG_0723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zwrVi7FAHLk/V92S_h1KeVI/AAAAAAAAB6M/g6lBJjFTPsknTjEPAis2WrTiHFk4TNftgCLcB/s320/IMG_0723.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/09/update-merola-prom-janie-dee.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-3445233153555805123Sun, 17 Jul 2016 17:03:00 +00002016-07-17T17:03:31.136+00:00Charles HandyInclusive CapitalismPoliticsTheresa MayWhat is a Company for?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OsD_UVUANE8/V4ul9UGOYOI/AAAAAAAAB48/VAsIw6MKfZg-jor5EpgnFpimiPM8zWVDwCLcB/s1600/JnJ-Our-Credo-700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OsD_UVUANE8/V4ul9UGOYOI/AAAAAAAAB48/VAsIw6MKfZg-jor5EpgnFpimiPM8zWVDwCLcB/s320/JnJ-Our-Credo-700.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J&amp;J Credo</td></tr></tbody></table>The move by the PM to give Investors a binding say on pay and to get workers on boards has attracted a backlash. But it raises the issue quite forcibly: What is a Company For?&nbsp; My friend Charles Handy gave an excellent talk about this over 20&nbsp; years ago at the RSA which led to the <i><a href="http://tomorrowscompany.com/">Tomorrow's Company</a> </i>work.<br /><br />One major cause of the lacklustre performance of UK companies and UK productivity over the last 10 years has been the unwillingness of British management to focus on growth, innovation and exports: it's much easier to cut costs and do transactions to boost Earnings per Share and bonuses. Growing EpS and the Share Price is NOT and must not be the purpose of a Public company. Indeed there is a strong case for making the priveleges and responsibilities of a Public Company more explicit.<br /><br />For example, and I offer this only as a thought starter, a new Companies Act might stipulate that:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The purpose of a Public Limited Company is to benefit society by supplying goods/services to customers, treating their customers, suppliers, employees and the communities in which they live and work responsibily and providing a fair return to their shareholders.</blockquote>Naturally this responsibility can be discharged directly or through subsidiaries This is explicitly modelled to a significant extent on the famous Johnson and Johnson <a href="http://www.jnj.com/sites/default/files/pdf/jnj_ourcredo_english_us_8.5x11_cmyk.pdf">Credo </a>which says their (fourth and) "final responsibility is to our stockholders."&nbsp; This philosophy of putting the shareholders last has resulted in 10-year share price growth of 103% - well ahead of the S&amp;P 500 (71%) or their rivals Merck (61%) or Pfizer (55%). Depressingly AstraZeneca and GSK have shown returns of 1% and -23% over that period. On a 20-year view JNJ is +421% vs 229% for the S&amp;P, 221% for Pfizer 164% for AZ, 96% for Merck and 62% for GSK.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9cUka4H4sdY/V4u3fm15qpI/AAAAAAAAB5M/jSNUZQGLLsYNRoywOhqmPkdlzepbkH87gCLcB/s1600/JNJ20YearRelShPrice.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9cUka4H4sdY/V4u3fm15qpI/AAAAAAAAB5M/jSNUZQGLLsYNRoywOhqmPkdlzepbkH87gCLcB/s640/JNJ20YearRelShPrice.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />A corollary of this is that less than 25% of the remuneration of CEOs should be dependent on the returns achieved by shareholders. CEOs should be encouraged to grow their business and invest in R&amp;D, skills, innovation and new markets, products and services.<br /><br />The move by the PM to get workers on boards should be embraced by industry and not resisted. We don't want Union Representatives but there needs to be a genuine feeling that the Employee Directors are accountable to the Employees. Perhaps the NomCo should provide at least two canadiates for each vacancy and it should then be decided by a vote of the Employees.<br /><br />Much to discuss and an exciting time to be debating these matters.http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/07/what-is-company-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-5252410626308313954Fri, 15 Jul 2016 20:32:00 +00002016-07-15T20:32:51.041+00:00Justin WelbyLambeth PartnershipShareholdersSocial JusticeTheresa MayLambeth Partnership in the Gardens<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B6yM3WY2IG8/V4lFc-ykP-I/AAAAAAAAB4I/Xnj0pmAoED04thowuMbHSEFj4a1JH0mrgCLcB/s1600/LambethPalaceFromGarden14July2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B6yM3WY2IG8/V4lFc-ykP-I/AAAAAAAAB4I/Xnj0pmAoED04thowuMbHSEFj4a1JH0mrgCLcB/s320/LambethPalaceFromGarden14July2016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lambeth Palace from the Gardens</td></tr></tbody></table>To Lambeth Palace last night to for a gathering of the excellent Lambeth Partnership which support the Archbishop of Canterbury with prayer, skills and finance.<br /><br />Justin gave an inspiring talk about his major priorities, and there is a very exciting initiative next Pentecost where there will be prayers for evangelisation in every European Capital City. The ministry of reconciliation which is one of Justin's main priorities has never been so urgently needed.<br /><br />I was also very encouraged to hear that the first year of the Community of St Anselm had been a great success. The porter at the gatehouse said they were the nicest bunch of people he had ever met. The second cohort will be arriving in September (?or Oct) and they sound amazing too.<br /><br />Slightly depressing to meet two FTSE 100 NED types rubbishing Theresa May's plan to give shareholders a binding say on pay. The first criticism was that it would make too much work for the NEDs - good grief, why don't they try acting responsibly and not giving outrageous pay awards for once?&nbsp; The other two concerns raised had a bit more substance:<br /><ul><li>It would be better if these changes were accompanied by a thought through statement of how the duties of the Board should be adjusted, so that they were coherent and not tinkering.</li><li>Far too many shareholders outsource voting to ISS and similar agencies who excercise power without responsibility, represent a dangeour monopoly, and don't engage properly.</li></ul>But outrageous CEO remuneration is not just a matter for the shareholders, it has serious implications for social cohesion and is a significant factor in the erosion of popular consent for shareholder capitalism.&nbsp; People must act responsibly and reduce CEO remuneration over the next 10 years by 50-60% in real terms - which would more or less get us back to where we were 10 years ago when it was bad enough!&nbsp; Easier said than done of course, but the PM is right to try and these "grandees" need to learn who's boss.http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/07/lambeth-partnership-in-gardens.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-6524236399667402048Tue, 12 Jul 2016 20:39:00 +00002016-07-12T20:39:18.095+00:00MozartNicole CabellOperaPolticsTheresa MayToby SpenceIdomineo + what a week!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aunftlvYuw0/V4UzeRx8zKI/AAAAAAAAB3o/D-ra5enrEP02YV_IUz7XuUvpREpUSPpowCLcB/s1600/TobyGarsingtonCurtainCall11July2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aunftlvYuw0/V4UzeRx8zKI/AAAAAAAAB3o/D-ra5enrEP02YV_IUz7XuUvpREpUSPpowCLcB/s320/TobyGarsingtonCurtainCall11July2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Murray, Timothy Robinson, Rebecca von Lipinski, <br />Toby, Louise Alder, Caitlin Hulcup, Nicholas Masters</td></tr></tbody></table>Last night to see the wonderful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idomeneo">Idomineo </a>at Garsington starring Toby Spence. This was the first time I'd seen the opera and although it means I have missed a masterpiece I'm glad because I find it impossible to imagine a finer performance!<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oqNJvRanNHg/V4U2S7XDlMI/AAAAAAAAB30/nmFEfxRlyyEe7Z8DOapxr4gNWhf2cBv6QCLcB/s1600/TobyRebeccaContainerGarsington11July2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oqNJvRanNHg/V4U2S7XDlMI/AAAAAAAAB30/nmFEfxRlyyEe7Z8DOapxr4gNWhf2cBv6QCLcB/s320/TobyRebeccaContainerGarsington11July2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toby drags Rebecca von Lipinski on in front of Container</td></tr></tbody></table>I made a point of not reading the programme or anything else about the opera so it was all fresh to me. The set was essentially two containers on a wooden stage, one of which (see left) opened out to give interior scenes and one of which was at an angle and would contain prisoners - and later corpses.&nbsp; This was all part of a remarkably effective production which remineded us that issues of prisoners and shipwreck are not purely historical, even though of course the idea of a human sacrifice made <i>as a result of a vow to the Gods</i> is no longer with us.<br /><br />We were treated to captivating and excellent performances from&nbsp; <a href="http://www.louisealder.co.uk/">Louise Alder</a> as Ilia (daughter of King Priam and capitve on Crete), <a href="http://www.caitlinhulcup.com/">Caitlin Hulcup </a>as Idamante (son of Idomineo King of Crete, in love with Ilia) and <a href="http://www.musichall.uk.com/artist.aspx?artist=58&amp;name=Rebecca"> Rebecca von Lipinski</a> as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra">Elettra </a>(refugee on Crete - though I can't find any classical allusions to this!) and then Idomineo arrives washed up on the shore having surived the storm by promising Neptune that he would sacrifice the first living thing(?person) he sees on arrival - only to meet his son Idamante. Toby was beyond brilliant in this demanding title role - singing and acting superbly throughout and inspiring the whole cast to even greater heights.<br /><br />Toby very kindly joined me in the restuarant tent at the end of the Interval supper and explained that the highly intelligent conductor, <a href="http://www.tobiasringborg.com/">Tobias Ringborg</a>, had done an excellent job of cutting the material so that the whole thing flows in a really dramatic manner. The entire published score including the Anhang (Appendix) runs to 379 pages and would, uncut, "result in an evening of Wagnerian length".&nbsp; He said that every performance he felt the cast had got even better. And he told me that this was the opera of which Mozart was most proud - he carried it with him everywhere and it was deeply personal since it speaks of how a tyrannical father sacrifices (or nearly) his son somewhat in the way that Mozart's own father did - not least in sending him away to perform in Paris and thus missing the death of his mother. I'm also delighted to learn that his next engagement is singing Ottavio in San Sebastian with Nicole Cabell as Elvira!<br /><br />The final Third Act was indeed even more magnificant and shattering than the previous ones, as Toby had suggested. <a href="http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/singers/tenor/robert-murray">Robert Murray </a>(Idomineo's friend), <a href="http://www.askonasholt.co.uk/artists/singers/tenor/timothy-robinson">Timothy Robinson </a>(Priest of Neptune) and <a href="http://nicholasmastersbass.com/">Nicholas Masters</a> (as Neptune) all performed excellently. And Elettra's use of knives for self-harm rather than suicide was a very good touch, as was giving her her truly - er - electrifying final aria from the <i>Anghang</i>.<br /><br />Travelled back on the train with some other opera-goers. And much enjoyed some of the biographical notes, not least that James Gilchrist (who is singing in <i>The Creation</i> later) "Enjoys listenting to <i>The Archers </i>and open water swimming, the latter due to his limited success as a sailor"<br /><br />I am of course delighted that Theresa is to be PM and that Andrea Leadsom has withdrawn. I emailed her on Thurday saying "Congratulations - but now as a Christian please consider prayerfully stepping aside" and it seems I may not have been alone. Let us hope and pray that Theresa makes a great PM in these very challenging times.<br /><br /><br /><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/07/idomineo-what-week.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-1404169632461144593Thu, 07 Jul 2016 22:02:00 +00002016-07-07T22:02:14.607+00:00ConservativesDavid CameronPoliticsRoyal SocietyscienceRoyal Society and David Cameron<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vKiDuiGqsUg/V37EaoXbOcI/AAAAAAAAB3E/3yJThu3FD6UCSwbcoL2QICAy2hEytA2KwCLcB/s1600/BlakemoreGuptaHappeMartinsRS6July2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vKiDuiGqsUg/V37EaoXbOcI/AAAAAAAAB3E/3yJThu3FD6UCSwbcoL2QICAy2hEytA2KwCLcB/s320/BlakemoreGuptaHappeMartinsRS6July2016.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah-Jayne_Blakemore">Sarah-Jayne Blakemore</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunetra_Gupta">Sunetra Gupta</a><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Happ%C3%A9">Francesca Happe</a>, <a href="https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/university-research/martins-zita/">Zita Martins</a><span id="goog_564169070"></span><span id="goog_564169071"></span></td></tr></tbody></table>To the Royal Society last night for their Soiree at their <a href="https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/summer-science-exhibition/exhibits/">Summer Exhibition</a>. It was great to see some old friends and to meet some new people, as well as to look at some very interesting exhibits.&nbsp; I was especially impressed with:<br /><ul><li><b><a href="https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/summer-science-exhibition/exhibits/deconstructing-cancer/">CANBUILD: deconstructing cancer</a></b> an attempt to build 3 dimensional models of tumors - since in fact tumors are not all composed of cancer cells and have a fascinating 3D structure.</li><li><b><a href="https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/summer-science-exhibition/exhibits/rosetta-philae-comet-67p/">The comet revealed: Rosetta and Philae at Comet 67P</a> </b>which had a fascinating 3D VR image of the comet including a simulation of what it would be like to stand there (except that the colour has been turned from a sooty black to a whiteish gray).</li><li><a href="https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/summer-science-exhibition/exhibits/4d-science/"><b>4D science</b></a> which is about using the Diamond X-Ray source for X-Ray tomography to investigate the behaviour and structure of materials as diverse as Ice Cream or bones.</li></ul><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rK7NIA4e4Bo/V37HIL_bm8I/AAAAAAAAB3U/hpPFNafCuuA8PHZGSKrFfQBGaOqyRDGYQCLcB/s1600/IMG_0390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rK7NIA4e4Bo/V37HIL_bm8I/AAAAAAAAB3U/hpPFNafCuuA8PHZGSKrFfQBGaOqyRDGYQCLcB/s320/IMG_0390.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Standing Ovation for Cameron</td></tr></tbody></table>Then today to a big lunch with David Cameron making one of his last big UK appearances as PM. He gave an excellent speech:<br /><ol><li>Be proud of the good things achieved. Not everyhing has gone right but much has.</li><li>We've just got to make the new situation work. He was and is concerned about the economy and the future of the UK, but we must get on with it.</li><li>We must remain friends with, and engaged with, our EU neighbours.</li><li>We must remain the party of enterprise, since a strong economy is vital.</li><li>We must remain a modern compassionate party.</li><li>Unity is vital, it's a team enterprise.</li></ol>It was great to see him and thank him again as PM. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/07/royal-society-and-david-cameron.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-8307484147518654604Mon, 04 Jul 2016 21:28:00 +00002016-07-04T21:28:11.507+00:00Joyce DiDonatoJudi DenchOperaRoyal Opera HouseWonderful Werther with Joyce<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sDVT480HV9Q/V3q_HmnbJVI/AAAAAAAAB2o/mxxznhSPO4Movp07a3svhm2U0tbBo3sTQCLcB/s1600/NBJoyceDiDonato3July2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sDVT480HV9Q/V3q_HmnbJVI/AAAAAAAAB2o/mxxznhSPO4Movp07a3svhm2U0tbBo3sTQCLcB/s320/NBJoyceDiDonato3July2016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joyce takes great selfies</td></tr></tbody></table>Yesterday to a completely wonderful performance of Werther at Covent Garden starring Joyce DiDonato and Vittorio Grigolo. Musically, and in terms of acting, it is hard to imagine that there could have been a better performance.<br /><br />I was very tired after the Round the Island race the previous day but the performance was utterly gripping, and the climax was some of the most heart-rending opera I have ever heard. Joyce inhabits the role so convincingly and sings so expressively - from ppp to fff and with the whole gamut of emotions. <br /><br />Vittorio Grigolo was also superb, and Jonaan Summers made an excellent father. The revelation of the performance was <a href="http://www.heatherengebretson.com/">Heather Engebretson</a> who played Sophie the younger sister. She's pint-sized but a bundle of energy with a superb voice that can fill Covent Garden. She'd doing a lot of work in Germany (Wiesbade, Hamburg) catch her if you can. And I hope she'll do a Wigmore soon!<br /><br />It occurred to me that Joyce is a bit like Judi Dench - people always perform a notch or two better when they perform with her. She liked the comparison.http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/07/wonderful-werther-with-joyce.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-3256481976281163750Sun, 03 Jul 2016 10:05:00 +00002016-07-03T10:05:20.612+00:00David CameronPoliticsSailingTheresa MayWhat a week - finishing with Round the Island<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zn1wtCeLOns/V3jggAnK-ZI/AAAAAAAAB2M/uDTHT-KzjKM29jDNKpxEwu9ziWLaXGBcwCLcB/s1600/NBDavidC29June2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zn1wtCeLOns/V3jggAnK-ZI/AAAAAAAAB2M/uDTHT-KzjKM29jDNKpxEwu9ziWLaXGBcwCLcB/s1600/NBDavidC29June2016.jpg" /></a></div>&nbsp;What an extraordinary week!<br /><br />The Conservative Summer Party on Weds was a fascinating affair. I spoke to all the then supposed leadership contenders and, mainly to reassure my Chinese clients considering investment in the UK, got "selfies" with a number of them. David took the one on the left which is good of him and one of the worst ones of me I've ever seen! <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FKf-KRHijgQ/V3jgfYWDEaI/AAAAAAAAB2I/kDMCV8z309oNgwQkK874X2NJoZrhKFcnwCLcB/s1600/NBTheresaM29June2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FKf-KRHijgQ/V3jgfYWDEaI/AAAAAAAAB2I/kDMCV8z309oNgwQkK874X2NJoZrhKFcnwCLcB/s320/NBTheresaM29June2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Notwithstanding my previous post it's clear to me that Theresa May - who I know only a little but like a lot - should be our next PM. She is by far the best placed to steady the ship and bring the country and the party together, and to lead discussions with Merkel and others on finding a sensible way forward.&nbsp; I was very impressed by her leadership speech and I hope and pray that the Conservative members have the good sense to elect her.<br /><br />Stephen Crabb would be an excellent successor when the time comes, and there are of course other possibilites. Boris has done the right thing to stand down as a candidate - he really couldn't have done it.<br /><br />I should also mention that we went to the Dr Faustus which turned out to be a modern "adaptation" with most of the text by a contemporary playwright.<br /><br />And I did my first Round the Island Race which was spectacular!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bHYqkc5NIIY/V3jjK1hmCfI/AAAAAAAAB2Y/MJdhrMHBY_4BVeHhPuDzBdEuhYvy9MhvwCLcB/s1600/IMG_0357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bHYqkc5NIIY/V3jjK1hmCfI/AAAAAAAAB2Y/MJdhrMHBY_4BVeHhPuDzBdEuhYvy9MhvwCLcB/s320/IMG_0357.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/07/what-week-finishing-with-round-island.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-7550527795253993977Sat, 25 Jun 2016 07:01:00 +00002016-06-25T07:01:31.059+00:00EU TreatyPoliticsScotlandOn Brexit, Boris and co must take responsibilty and should then trust the people on the specifics<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJX_8c-6NdU/V24laAtIPeI/AAAAAAAAB14/xrKcR28NxygVXnh8tfDwH2y1kpGP3MVpACLcB/s1600/NBDerSpiegel23une2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJX_8c-6NdU/V24laAtIPeI/AAAAAAAAB14/xrKcR28NxygVXnh8tfDwH2y1kpGP3MVpACLcB/s320/NBDerSpiegel23une2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Der Spiegel Online</td></tr></tbody></table>So the vote was narrowly Brexit, with London and Scotland voting Remain and the rest of the country for Leave - based on high turnout of C2DE voters who apparently believed that the "£350M per week" we sent to the EU could be spent on "our NHS" and removing VAT on petrol, and that the warnings of dire economic consequences were "scaremongering".<br /><br />The day afterwards Sterling and the stockmarkets had plunged - recovering somewhat so that Sterling was "only" down 6% against the $. The FTSE 100 was only down 3% at the close and the FTSE 250, which has more UK exposure, 6%. This means we are now the 6th largest economy in the world - we were the 5th before Brexit - but the real problems are only just beginning. The Bank of England had to make £250bn of liquidity available to the financial system.&nbsp; Exactly as forecast, the SNP are now suggested a second Independence Referendum for Scotland.&nbsp; We will be very lucky to avoid a recession.<br /><br />The following points seem pretty clear to me:<br /><ol><li><b>Boris and co must take full responsibility</b> for the situation they have created. It may be that they have indeed got the skills required to lead the country to a glorious future. But we need to find out as soon as possible.</li><li><b>They must negotiate the specifics of our new relationship with the EU</b>, with the First Ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland. This should include what would happen if Scotland and Northern Ireland Remain in the EU and England &amp; Wales Leave.</li><li><b>They should then trust the people in a referendum on the specifics </b>where the question is whether the voters Endorse the Brexit Deal or Reject it and vote to remain in the EU under the existing terms.&nbsp; It should be clear that, if Scotland and Northern Ireland Reject the Brexit Deal, they will Remain and it will be the end of the United Kingdom.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ol>My guess is that under these conditions there would be an 80% vote in favour of Remain. But we shall see.http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/06/on-brexit-boris-and-co-must-take.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-6139844606661320213Wed, 22 Jun 2016 22:02:00 +00002016-06-23T12:41:44.794+00:00Jo CoxPoliticsReferendumPrayer for the Referendum in Parliament Square<br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMnu-YzT6L4/V2sKqzC-suI/AAAAAAAAB1g/ce-wWp6gkhghmlq2W-O0sLxsw8HKEh6kACLcB/s1600/PrayerMeeting22June2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMnu-YzT6L4/V2sKqzC-suI/AAAAAAAAB1g/ce-wWp6gkhghmlq2W-O0sLxsw8HKEh6kACLcB/s320/PrayerMeeting22June2016.JPG" width="320" /></a>To Parliament Square for the prayer meeting to pray about the Referendum. It was an inspiring gathering and this photo doesn't do it justice. We clustered in small groups of 3-4 people and prayed together to a shared agenda, with each topic allocated about 10 minutes.<br /><br />Having arrived early I had time to look at the moving memorial to Jo Cox. #LoveLikeJo is an inspiring idea - I do hope it lasts. I can find no reference to an explicit Christian faith, but she was clearly on the side of the Sheep and not the Goats!<br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-heJH6KHyqSo/V2sKtXOjOCI/AAAAAAAAB1o/CgWNFmf182EB_ivGoq1U64F_sgw_imtNQCLcB/s1600/JoCoxMemorial22June2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-heJH6KHyqSo/V2sKtXOjOCI/AAAAAAAAB1o/CgWNFmf182EB_ivGoq1U64F_sgw_imtNQCLcB/s320/JoCoxMemorial22June2016.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />Michael Gove's comparison of the Nobel Prizewinners and other scientists and economists against Brexit to the German scientists in the pay of the Nazis is breathtaking. Maybe he realises that Brexit would be a disaster and wants to lose deliberately?<br /><br />Farage has pulled out of the Brexit debate for undisclosed "family reasons". I do hope he and his family are well. It would be much better if he withdrew from public life altogether and concentrated on them.<br /><br />Let us hope and pray that the Referendum leads to a right result and that there is a speedy healing of the bitterness that it has engendered.&nbsp; I''l be campaigning most of tomorrow.<br /><br />PS (23 June) I spoke to a Leave "teller" in a polling station. She says Jo Cox was an evil marxist, and makes poisonous allegations against her husband. <strike>I didn't quite have the heart to ask if she thought Jo Cox was a "traitor" but I strongly suspect she did</strike><br />PPS: I saw her later today and did ask her if she thought Jo Cox was a traitor. She did indeed.&nbsp; So I asked if she deserved to be shot - she did not, and thought that was terrible. http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/06/prayer-for-referendum-in-parliament.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-1991450758178003733Thu, 16 Jun 2016 20:50:00 +00002016-06-17T19:57:23.238+00:00BrexitJo CoxPoliticsReferendumJo Cox RIP - she died defending her country<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0qh22Ny-x_s/V2L5b4KzW2I/AAAAAAAAB1M/z6yUsETwLeQhbYhuAz6W82b2DZeveGeUwCLcB/s1600/VoteLeaveShootingRiverWaterAtJoCox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0qh22Ny-x_s/V2L5b4KzW2I/AAAAAAAAB1M/z6yUsETwLeQhbYhuAz6W82b2DZeveGeUwCLcB/s320/VoteLeaveShootingRiverWaterAtJoCox.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <a href="https://twitter.com/MrBrendanCox">Brendan Cox's Twitter Feed</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>The photo on the left is from Jo Cox's husbard's twitter feed. It's: "the moment the #VoteLeave lot started hosing our kids with river water. Nice friendly lot." <br /><br />One day later someone allegedly shouting "Britain First" shoots Jo Cox with a more lethal gun. She is now dead. <br /><br />From all I've read she sounds like a wonderful woman. She died defending her country from the catastophe of Brexit, which in addition to the economic consequences - somewhere between Bad/Very Bad and Disater we cannot yet be sure - would surely lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom.<br /><br />I am worried that a substantial proportion of my fellow-citzens have gone mad. Most of the Brexiters are either uneducated or simply out of touch with economic reality - though many their leaders are simply in it to "take control" for themselves.<br /><br />Let us hope and pray that wiser counsels prevail and that the UK electorate does not vote to destroy the UK and wreck the economy.<br /><br />PS I cannot find the name of the boat involved. Not listed in the pictures for "Fishing for Leave".<br /><br />PPS (Responding to Andrew's comment below): I take some comfort from the facts that:<br /><ol><li>The UK Electorate has never AFAIK in the last 100 years made a really stupid decision.</li><li>The <a href="https://www.betfair.com/exchange/politics/marketactivity?id=1.118739911&amp;selectionId=9481397">Spread Betting odds</a> still show a 63% chance of Remain, despite the fact that the polls currently pretty much all show leads for Leave.</li></ol>http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/06/jo-cox-rip-she-died-defending-her.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10208143.post-8525600461379151825Sun, 12 Jun 2016 19:33:00 +00002016-06-12T19:33:14.148+00:00PsalmsSt BenedictPsalm 137: We sat beside the streams of Babylon<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpeZ8GKQ95M/V12uXIylLsI/AAAAAAAAB04/z2fTkbQNbJUPhrhpVvJhHxN4MzxC5BROQCLcB/s1600/Gebhard_Fugel_An_den_Wassern_Babylons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpeZ8GKQ95M/V12uXIylLsI/AAAAAAAAB04/z2fTkbQNbJUPhrhpVvJhHxN4MzxC5BROQCLcB/s320/Gebhard_Fugel_An_den_Wassern_Babylons.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebhard_Fugel">Gebhard Fugel</a> - By the Waters of Babylon<br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalm_137#/media/File:Gebhard_Fugel_An_den_Wassern_Babylons.jpg">courtesy Wikipedia</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Flying back from San Francisco I completed my (first draft) translation of Psalm 136 and made a first draft of Psalm 137.<br /><br />This of course is a Psalm of great beauty and poingnancy with the shocking ending of calling on someone to kill small babies.<br /><br />For a Christian it is a classic instance of how all scripture must be read in the light of Christ. Of course God does not want us to ask for revenge on our enemies let alone on the innocent child descendents. St Benedict has it right when he <a href="http://www.osb.org/rb/text/rbejms1.html#pro">says </a>this is about the need to lay hold of evil thoughts while they are still young and dash them against Christ <br /><br /><br />Anyway here is my translation, see what you think:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">We sat beside the streams of Babylon<br />And wept when we remembered you, Zion.<br />On willows in its midst our harps we hung<br />For there our captors clamoured that we sung<br />And those who scorned us <span style="color: blue;">and had done us wrongs</span><br />Demanded gleefully: sing Zion's songs.<br />How sing The LORD's song in an alien land?<br />Forget Jerusalem? Forget my hand!<br />My tongue stick to my mouth if I forget<br />Jerusalem, or if I fail to set<br />Jerusalem above my highest joy.<br />Remember LORD the Edomites, the day<br />Jerusalem <span style="color: blue;">was battered </span>and they say:<br />To the foundations down, destroy, destroy!<br />O Babylon's doomed daughter, blessed be<br />The one who pays you back, treats you as we<br />Have been by you. Who grabs your children small<br />And on a <span style="color: blue;">solid </span>rock dashes them <span style="color: blue;">all</span>.</blockquote><br />The text in blue are words I have had to insert to make the verse work. Everything else is in the Hebrew. http://starcourse.blogspot.com/2016/06/psalm-137-we-sat-beside-streams-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (starcourse)0